State-wide ALDI MiniRoos Road Trip a success

July 6, 2018

Football Queensland’s ALDI MiniRoos Road Trip has officially wrapped, with more than 600 youngsters in regional Queensland taking part across the state.

The Road Trip started in Bundaberg on June 1 and, after travelling from Atherton in the north to the Gold Coast in the south, wound up at brand new Sunshine Coast club Baringa Football Club on Wednesday.

Using the backdrop of the FIFA World Cup in Russia, the ALDI MiniRoos Road Trip was intended to reach out to children aged five to nine who had not previously played football.

“We wanted to introduce new players into the game, especially with the buzz of the World Cup,” MiniRoos Development Officer Andy Allan said.

“The majority of the participants hadn’t played football before, which was a great to see and introduce potential future stars to our game.”

Allan said a quarter of the total number of attendees were girls, which was a positive statistic.

“In Australia, the average number of girls compared to boys is one in five, so we’re pretty happy with what we achieved,” he said.

“We always strive to get more playing the game, especially girls.”

The tour covered 28 clinics at 14 different regional venues.

“The MiniRoos Road Trip was extremely successful and it has been a great initiative to run across Queensland,” Allan said.

“We are very happy with the outcome and we believe it was really positive engagement for junior players and regional clubs.

“In closing, we’d like to thank all the hosts and all those who came along.”

The Road Trip was run by Allan and FQ Female Participation Officer Kerry Hammersley.

The touring party was on the road initially for 13 days, back in Brisbane for three days, then out and about again for another week.